“I didn’t know he fell,” he admitted.

“You didn’t ask.”

Those four words landed harder than anything else I’d said. He hadn’t known Kobe hurt his knee. He hadn’t known how many families evacuated. He hadn’t known I paid for Sailor’s education.

Not because anyone hid it — because he’d never cared enough to ask. His version of the story only worked if no one else’s reality mattered.

Neither of them spoke again before they left.

Chapter 8 — Ninety Days

The next morning, Gage attended the ethics review at his firm. He wasn’t fired. Instead, the company placed him under a ninety-day professional review — his client communications, expense reports, and public activity all under additional supervision — and required him to complete an ethics and professional-judgment course.